They were speeding the mail

发信速度很快
so that it didn't have to wait to sort it

以致于在上火车之前不再需要
before it went on the train--

等着分类整理
it was sorted while it was moving on the train.

可以边坐火车边整理
Germany was very effective in these--

德国人处理此事非常有效
they had advanced bureaucracy, a good postal service,

他们推进了行政机制和邮政服务
and they had a network of post offices all over the country--

出现了全国范围的邮局网
every little town had a post office.

每个小镇都有一所邮局
So, this was the internet of the nineteenth century

这就相当于是19世纪的互联网
and it really changed everything.

而这确实改变了一切
In 1889, the German Government decided to use the postal service

1889年德国政府决定将邮政用作
as an information network to create Social Security.

建立的社会保障的信息网络